I bought a very nice used Royalex canoe and the thwart in the rear is a little close the the rear seat for me. Moving it forward 4 inches would be a huge help, I realize it will have to be replaced and cut to fit. Would it hurt to move the existing one behind the bow seat as it will fit perfectly there? I see some with a center yoke and two thwarts but mine has a center seat so I wonder if the extra bracing would be good. Probably a dumb newbie question but one I'm not sure about. The canoe is a 16' Wenonah Kingfisher if that helps.

The purpose of the thwarts is to hold the shape and integrity of the canoe. Most tandem canoes have one behind the bow seat, a center thwart, which can double as a yoke, and one ahead of the stern seat. It may be helpful to have a picture of your canoe to determine if moving thwarts will affect integrity.

Hard to imagine that moving it forward 4" would make a significant difference to the integrity of the canoe's shape. Don't remove the current thwart until you have properly fitted one in the new location. A 16' canoe probably doesn't need additional bracing behind the bow seat. Adding it won't hurt anything, but it will add extra weight. And adding one forward of the yoke plus moving the other one forward 4" may affect the balance when you are carrying it. That can be countered, but just something to consider.

Rs130754: "I bought a very nice used Royalex canoe and the thwart in the rear is a little close the the rear seat for me. Moving it forward 4 inches would be a huge help, I realize it will have to be replaced and cut to fit. Would it hurt to move the existing one behind the bow seat as it will fit perfectly there? I see some with a center yoke and two thwarts but mine has a center seat so I wonder if the extra bracing would be good. Probably a dumb newbie question but one I'm not sure about. The canoe is a 16' Wenonah Kingfisher if that helps."

That's a GREAT idea. Adding a thwart in a wider canoe will just improve the integrity and take away some of the movement in a royalex hull. I've done this with a couple boats in reverse. Mohawk Solo 14' canoes had a front, but no rear thwart. For mine and one I refurbished for a friend, I placed a rear thwart and you could tell a difference, the hull felt "Stiffer?"

Canoes are built for a "Standard sized" paddler. Well, we're different sizes and heights. When I married my wife there was over 100lbs difference in our weight. So I've typically tinkered with my boats doing things like moving thwart and seat positions. But you have to consider things like the width and length of the boat. I also do that with the boats I paddle solo.

Since it is a relatively wide hull, I figure this will also improve the handling of the Kingfisher. Buy another thwart to replace the stern thwart. Ed's canoes typically has thwarts for about $5-10 bucks in their bargain bin. Let me look for a few picture which I've done exactly what you're talking about and placed a rear thwart closer to center, often because I also moved the stern seat closer.

Over the years I've found customizing my canoes for ME is not only fun, but makes for a more satisfying paddling experience. I'd love to see your before and after pics when you finish your project. I'm a sucker for looking at folks' modifications! Here's the link to Ed's Canoes. Look under "Factory Specials." Call and tell them the length you need. Right now I see they have Mad River thwarts for $9.99. And Mad River thwarts will work just fine on Wenonah royalex canoes.

Also, here's one of my current canoes, a Novacraft Pal that is converted to solo with thwarts repositioned.

Ed's Canoe

So you'll end up with an extra thwart in front and the one in the rear moved forward 4 inches right? If so I totally agree with ozarkpaddler. The additional front thwart can only stiffen up the boat and make it feel more solid...it will add torsional rigidity which is something car designers continually strive to improve. The 4 inch movement in the rear is no issue. You'll end up with a better boat. Ed's sells top quality stuff at reasonable prices.

If the fasteners on your seats don't have washers below the seat add them if you can. If the fasteners can burrow into the wood they don't maintain their torque so it's worth checking for washers to make sure the seat attachments are as solid as possible.

Go for it!

straighthairedcurly: "...Don't remove the current thwart until you have properly fitted one in the new location. A 16' canoe probably doesn't need additional bracing behind the bow seat..."

Totally agree with the first comment as the hull shape is maintained while the new thwart is sized. On the second, I disagree. I had a Ranger Otter some time back and it comes stock with only a center thwart. Adding both a for and aft thwart greatly enhanced the rigidity of the hull. It exhibited a bit of oil canning w/o them.

Thanks for all of the tips. I am going to get a new one ordered and installed before moving the existing. I was worried about if I was solo paddling it backwards having a thwart their so before I install it I am going to try paddling from the center seat. That should tell me if I should install the one towards the bow. Ozark I hope to head your way this summer so I might be hitting you up on a few rivers. Thanks again.